Because of their durability, affordability, and aesthetic qualities, tiles are commonly used in a wide variety of finishing applications. For instance, tiles are often used for covering roofs, floors, and walls. Additionally, tiles may be used to construct countertops and tabletops.
At the time of installation, a tile installer must trim tiles to fit the edges of the installation site. As an example, when installing tiles as a floor covering, the installer must cut tiles along the edges of the room to fit the room's dimensions. A variety of portable tile cutting tools are available that allow the installer to cut tiles to the dimensions needed at the installation site. Simple tile cutting tools include hand tools, such as tile nibbers, for instance, which are a specialty tool shaped similar to pliers and are used to nibble away at a tile in order to cut and shape it. Another simple tile cutting tool is a tile cutter that uses a scoring wheel to score the tile along a line. The user may then snap the tile along the score line. However, cutting tiles using these simple types of cutting tools may be difficult and time-consuming. For instance, a user may find it difficult to cut tiles using these tools without breaking the tiles. Additionally, these types of cutting tools may not be suitable for cutting tiles of certain materials.
For larger tile installations and to save time and effort, a tile installer may use a wet tile saw to cut tiles. A wet tile saw typically uses a wide, circular blade with sand crystals or diamonds to cut a tile by grinding a channel through the tile. Water is splashed on the blade to control dust, cool the blade, and reduce friction while cutting. However, currently available wet tile saws present a number of drawbacks. For instance, wet tile saws may be difficult to operate and intimidating, especially to novice tile installers, such as do-it-yourselfers. Additionally, wet tile saws are often cumbersome and difficult to clean. Further, a water pump is typically used to draw water from a water supply and splash the blade while cutting. Splashing a blade in this manner is messy as a result of water being sprayed all over and leads to water loss. The water pump also adds an additional item that must be cleaned and maintained. Further still, the user generally must move the tile through the stationary saw blade. As the tile is being moved, it can easily shift out of alignment, resulting in a miss-cut tile.